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now that you've lost your bumps and bruises."
Crook.... Valiantly she attempted to stem the retort which rose
instantly to her lips, but it escaped, driven out by fury.
"A blackmailer and a cheat would make an even more undesirable
pillow friend! " N Damon's eyes smouldered; she had caught him on a
raw spot, that was for sure.
"Say that again and by God you'll smart! You don't appear to
appreciate your good fortune. Had it not been for my mother, and the
position I'm in, I'd have meted out a punishment that would have had
you screaming for mercy, I told you that in the beginning! Play safe,
girl, for if you insult me again I'll not be responsible for my actions!"
Pale and with her heartbeats thudding uncomfortably, Kim decided
not to make any further retaliation, although her fury was almost
choking her. His threats --Would he go to the lengths of carrying
them out? She had been convinced that he would never inflict any
real physical hurt upon her, she recalled, but, looking at that
smouldering countenance now, she was not at all sure. His temper
was unpredictable; he had the inherited traits of mastery, of
superiority, which men from the East always assumed. He was
unused to the disrespect which she had persistently shown him and
she was under no illusions about the result had she been one of his
own countrywomen.
"So I can't have the bedroom?" was all she said, and he immediately
shook his head.
"I've assured you that you're quite safe where you are."
At the dinner-table that evening Kim said quietly, "Damon, can we
talk amicably for a short while?"
Her phrasing evidently afforded him a measure of amusement, for a
smile touched the firm outline of his mouth.
"For a short while. By all means."
"I was telling you how awkward it would be to tell my foster-mother
of my marriage, and of its breakup-"
"But as it's not now going to break up - not in the immediate future -
you have no problem."
"I have the problem of the marriage itself. I've no idea how to tell her,
yet I must communicate, for she'll be out of her mind with worry."
Her husband glanced oddly at her.
"Your concern seems genuine enough," he said, the hint of surprise in
his tone having the instant effect of making her seethe. "But why
haven't you already communicated with her?"
"Because, on considering it more carefully, in the i knowledge that I
would be free in a week, I decided there was no need to mention my
marriage at all. P would have to explain my absence, of course, and
the truth was the only feasible explanation. I meant to tell her of my -
er - abduction, but then say I'd managed to escape -" She stopped on
noticing his expression. A frown knit his brow; he was beginning to
be puzzled, and that meant hope.
"Go on," he pressed quietly. "I'm interested."
Kim looked frankly into his eyes.
"Mumsie - my foster-mother - would have been upset, but as long as I
was now safe there'd have been no need for her to worry."
"You know," remarked Damon after a thoughtful pause, "when first
you mentioned this foster-mother I didn't believe she existed."
"You didn't believe anything I said," she couldn't help Reminding
him, but he merely flicked a hand, dismissing the matter as
unimportant.
"She obviously does exist. Tell me about her." His dark gaze held
hers for a long moment before he added^ "Hadn't you any parents,
that you had to be put into the care of a foster-mother?" --/
"They died within six months of each other when I was a small child.
Mrs. Rowe, as she was then, was a widow with one little girl. She
took in foster-children to supplement her income. There were three of
us from the home."
Damon made no immediate comment; his eyes probed into hers
across the table. She wondered if he were beginning to doubt his first
estimation of her character. There was nothing to be read from his
expression and when he spoke his tones were curt and cool and edged
with that faint accent which Kim had already found attractive.
"These others ... were they the accomplices you spoke of?"
Kim ground her teeth.
"They helped me, yes," she snapped, having no alternative other than
to tell the truth.
"Mrs. Rowe evidently didn't make a very good job of your
upbringing," he commented thoughtfully. "How very strange that all
three of you turned out bad."
The green eyes lighted up.
"I asked if we might talk amicably!" she flashed. "Must you be
forever goading me?"
Damon narrowed his gaze.
"Control yourself! I've never known a woman flare up the way you
do. Practise a little self-restraint when you're in my presence."
Kim drew a deep and quivering breath. Her eyes lighted on an
exquisite silver mustard pot and she debated for one inflamed second
whether or not to pick it up and throw it at him, but she controlled the
impulse and tried again.
"I'm endeavouring to tell you about Mumsie. I shall have to write to
her, telling her of my marriage, now that I'm to live here for a while."
Kim broke off and shook her head. "How I'm to convince her that I'm
happily married I don't know, but I must convince her."
"I expect," remarked Damon after a pause, "that, with, your
imaginative mind, you'll contrive something." He stopped as her
mouth tightened. "I don't quite see," he continued when she failed to
voice the retort he was expecting, "why you wish to talk to me about
it?"
"Because, knowing my foster-mother, and taking into account the
strange circumstances of my marriage, I would not be at all surprised
were she to decide suddenly to come over here to see me. She's
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